can now be easily found with just a click. There are many areas of research covered in this web site, including genealogy, geography, maps, books, magazines and newspaper selections and Yiddish language translations, travel information, ad infinitum.

There is no charge for my effort but I will get a great deal of satisfaction hearing about your successes and improvement suggestions.

Keep in mind that my pages will constantly change as I have free time to add additional new information and I am constantly upgrading the site.

It is to your benefit to return often as I am constantly adding 'tons' of information to the site -- as fast as I can --- and whenever I can.

Hello, my name is Ted Margulis ... a long time, obsessed, Jewish genealogist-hobbyist (thirty eight years ... and still searching)

It seems like yesterday that I started on my own family tree after attending a "first ever" family reunion, held in my hometown of Minneapolis, in 1962. I grew up on the Northside of Minneapolis and graduated from North High School and from the University of Minnesota. Six months after marrying my Shirley, we moved to Los Angeles where we lived and raised our family, retiring in 1989 after a career in advertising, retailing and manufacturing.

Today, I am relentlessly researching over 1,500 family ancestors I have discovered hanging from the Soloski / Cohen / Margulis family tree and my wife's Smolkin family. Can you imagine having a profile on so many relatives and going back to 1810? There's even a questionable character among them. Oh for shame! It's a shandeh!

In early 1950's, I and my former partner, Lowell Chudacoff, formed an advertising agency in Los Angeles, and established ourselves as Direct Mail Advertising specialists. Later, I created a unique business in Los Angeles - Gift Exchange (brides could exchange duplicate or unwanted wedding gifts for someone else's unwanted gifts) and later, with 26 franchised stores, sold our business and shortly after the sale, I created another unique gift business - Adele's (the very first all-personalized gift shops) in both Beverly Hills, Los Angeles and in Encino, California. After retirement in 1989, I have been occupied with researching my family and developing this web site.

Most of the information posted on the web site has been found through my intense effort surfing the Internet. I still remember my first experience when I signed on with the original CompuServe Jewish Genealogy Forum and later the AOL and Prodigy Jewish Genealogy Forums ... and still later, JewishGen, Infoukes, BRAMA and the various specific Country and Subject SIGS. 'Hello' to the many friends that I have made on those forums and still count as Email: friends to this day.

Because of this deep genealogical interest, (developed from the illuminating and interesting experiences of other Jewish genealogists, as previously and currently being discussed on these various Internet forums), my wife and I decided to travel - mostly to Eastern Europe from 1970 to 2004 (Russia, Lithuania, Denmark, Sweden, Mexico. Ukraine, Hungary, Germany, England, France, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Spain, Portugal, Israel, Italy and Greece and don't forget, the U.S.). We had already met some of our Englishand Mexican relatives in previous trips and later our Swedish, Lithuanian, Australian and Ukrainian relatives.

It is for those who left their mark and legacy on printed records... before us ... for you ... for me ... and for all the future generations that I now want to pass this legacy on to those future generations. I hope that someone within my family will pick up the baton when I am gone and continue with this project. Du herst mynah kinder?

I wish that there were some way that I could lead you personally to the exact web site you need ... but that is impossible ... and besides ... you wouldn't have the fun and joy of making your own wonderful and rewarding discoveries.

The main purpose of this web site is to make it e-a-s-i-e-r for you to do your personal research ... and have fun doing it. I am not a professional genealogist and do not have the time to offer any genealogy services, so please don't ask.

And yes, it will take "time", but think how much time you will have already saved using my bookmarks.

My Personal Success Story ...

And It Came to Pass- The Margulis Saga - a story of how I was able to successfully locate - and finally meet - my half brother's son who was born in Kerch, Crimea; lived in Siberia; and was a Major in the Soviet Army. He, his wife and son now resides in Melbourne, Australia.

Margulis Sagato read my successful research story. Hopefully, it will inspire you as well to continue to do do your own research!

The LINKS (most are shown in blue a few in red and some underlined) on my various web pages will link you to the huge amount of world-wide Jewish genealogical sites that contain databases or detailed information you hopefully will find of value as you continue your quest of solving the mysteries surrounding your family tree.

What I have created, is an attempt to make some logical sense out of the many bits and pieces discussed and/or displayed (somewhere on the vast Internet) relating to Jewish references and information dealing with our mutual past. The results, hopefully, will make your search fruitful. That's why I named my site an 'Index'.

My site contains no banter ... no repetitious questions ... no put downs ... only facts (and hopefully), links that will eventually lead you to your past

You may recognize some information as being posted by you to one of the many forums I visit daily. That's very possible, and hopefully you have been placed in the position of helping another Jewish genealogist forge ahead on their ancestral trail by your past action. Makes you feel good, doesn't it?

In some cases, I have given credit to the person who supplied the information. If I have slighted you by not giving you proper credit, and you want it to be known, don't hesitate to contact me at

I have also, (in some cases), indicated your Email: address because you indicated at one time that you would be willing to answer questions or supply additional information. If the situation has changed, I would appreciate your advising me as such and your Email: address will be removed.

Please remember, that my site is an Index ... a Directory of Jewish Genealogical Resources and Links. It is maintained only to be of assistance - and nothing more.

Note: I did not make-up or create any of the information, web sites or links. I have just researched and reviewed them and then added it to my site if I felt they were relevant to helping one research their Jewish Genealogy.

It is certainly possible that I have made some errors in judgment or in an entry. Forgive me, if I did, and please let me know so that I can make the appropriate corrections. Let me know too, if a link no longer works - they change too -- and often. When you have access to the Internet, you can benefit in saving research time and frustrations.

Research is the key word. You can spend 10 hours a day, 350 days of the year -- for over 12 years, and never find all of the Internet resources available. I know, for that is about the amount of time I have personally spent surfing day --- and --- into the night, to glean the informative details; the thousands of sites and the many lists anddatabases from those thousands of web sites I personally visited and posted to my web pages.It's both a tedious, but interesting task, that I have chosen to follow inthe twilight years. It's my enjoyment too and it keeps me out of trouble.

Genealogy, I have learned, is not just names and addresses and dates. It's also an understandingof who the people we are researching were; what they did; what their names meant --- learning about their daily shtetl life and what their customs were.

Why? Why?Why?

You have to journey back into their past in order to really understand them --- in our present time. There is so much to be fascinated by --- and so much more to learn about them -- and thus about ourselves.

You know, you'll never really own your family history. All you can expect is to merely take care of it for the next generations. Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. And today? Well today is a gift --- and it should be treasured and memorialized.

While I was surfing and discovering these web sites, the idea of sharing them and providing this very special community with this service was born. I named it

Jewishwebindexbut you'll call it a timesaver and a lifesaver! The best part is that it is for free! You pay nothing - and you will not be admonished or solicited by anyone! A donation though, will be most appreciated. I've made it easy. Just go to my Home page and scroll down a bit. Just click on the best method for you.

Jewish Web Index is free!

However, I presume my readers are astute enough to understand that in the real world of bills and taxes, a web site, (such as this one), can't survive forever without sponsors. Thus you can expect to see advertising on my pages. None are offensive. The advertisers were selected because they can provide a quality service or product that

relates to genealogy, as you will see. Please patronize them as a thank you for helping sponsor my site.

From the beginning, all expenses for preparation and maintenance have been paid from my own personal checkbook. But you won't see me cry! You will easily recognize though, that you can now order a book, a map, a video, a CD or a musical tape, among other things --- or you may use a search engine --- or visit a link --- where the provider pays a nominal commission should you buy - visit their site - or use their services. Don't forget to come back to my site after visiting my advertisers.

I'm sure you have seen this message posted before ..."I don't know where, or to whom, I should ask. Although I have very little information to offer, being a member of this newsgroup (or forum) has not helped me much"

Can someone please help me?

Many times, as I have read the thousands and thousands of on-line postings these past years -- (written almost exactly in the same words -- to the many newsgroups I subscribe to) -- I would find a repetitious plea from fellow genealogist exclaiming that they had "hit a wall"... or just didn't know where to turn next in their search for their Jewish roots.

Today there are so many 'Newbies', -- their questions and needs also have to be addressed and answered. Some of you have been around as long as I have and you get tired of seeing the same questions pop up time after time. This wastes precious time and it is frustrating to see a moderator's message pop up and say "search our archives for the answer".

Now, you don't have to go anywhere but to my site for links and answers. This is a better and easier way to do your family research. Great, isn't it?

The forums will always be there for you to ask unanswered questions - but check my site first. The answer may have already been posted - and you should be able to find it e-a-s-i-e-r on my site.

On my individual country sites, you'll find locations and district maps for most of the Jewish shtetls and cities of East European countries --- categorized by country. Some countries, because there is so little information discovered, are combined with a neighboring country i.e. Malta is on the Italy- Greece page.

JewishWeb Index covers the largest part of Eastern Europe; Britain, Scotland, Ireland, France, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Hungary, Czech, Monrovia, Bulgaria, Austria, South Africa, South America, Australia, the Orient and other countries that were once home to Jews.

And you will also find informational sites dealing with Languages, Names, Books, Yiddish Dictionary, Sephardic and Holocaust sites, etc., as well. There is intentional overlapping so be sure to visit all of the categories at your own pace.

I would suggest you start with my "How To Use" page first then look around the pages of interest to you. Anytime you see an underlined word, consider that by clicking on it, you will be taken to that particular page i-n-s-t-a-n-t-l-y

Some of the map sites displayed will take you back to the 16th Century. On some, if you wish a larger version, just click on the map. And if you want to locate a specific shtetl, just type in the name of the shtetl you are researching in the "Search Box" located on most pages and the chances are good that you will get a return (a hit!) that will be more than what you expected --- including fairly detailed listings --- and specific maps of other nearby towns within the district.

My site pages offer more than just one map resource. There are several sites in most cases giving you choices. And you can be sure, that if more sites are discovered (and they will in due time) --- they will be added.

Want to know about people who lived in Minneapolis in 1931? Easy! Just go over to the "U.S. Census" page and you are a click- away from many of the 50 US State governmental sites containing this, and other important information, about your family. All 50 states are represented by various web sites via my links.

And what about other countries around this world? Don't ask! Just look!

You will be surprised with the breadth and depth available on the WWW (World Wide Web) through JewishWeb Index-I didn't forget you.

How about

Yiddishtranslated to English and vice-versus? Or German, French, Spanish, Ukraine, Russian? All of these languages, and many more, can be translated easily by visiting the numerous language translating sites that are already book marked. Help is just a click-away. You have no idea how in-depth and how diversified these clearly identified sites offer, until you try it out yourself.

Most of the web sites listed on the following web pages, offer to help at no charge, but there are some that have placed a monetary value for their services. Only you can make the decision as to whether it is worth your investing in their services. I make no endorsements whatsoever. All I do is offer them as bookmarks --then you make your own decision.

If nothing else, I would appreciate an Email: that tells me what you found good about my web site ... and what you found of little or no value ... or what you feel could stand improvement. More importantly --- what you would like to have added or changed.

Email:

I would like to acknowledge the many Email: s I have received since I launched this site, but one in particular stands out and epitomizes all of the rest. It is from Jennie Dal Busco, Director of Research & Analysis (and Jeeviant Prototype) Ask Jeeves, Inc.

Jennie wrote: "Thank you for such a wonderful, easily-navigated, fantastic website on Jewish Genealogy! You are both an inspiration, and a great resource!

Thanks Jennie, and thank you for your time to read this page. It is most appreciated. I know, that if you have come to this point, you are sincerely interested --and that makes me happy. Really happy, O.K. --- very pleased!

I sincerely hope that you find more about your family tree through my past and future efforts. That's so important for our future generations. And please remember the energy that went into this site to make it easier for you and to make your wishes come true and patronize, if you can, the advertisers that make it possible.* Your encouragement and support is truly most appreciated.

Shalom Chaver (Peace Friend)

Warm Regards,

Ted Margulis(Tuvia)Enjoying retirement in Palm Desert, California

* If you are interested in supporting my effort and would like to advertise on my web site, please contact me atmailto:tedmar333@gmail.com

I pay all expenses out of my own checkbook. I encourage advertising a product or service that would possibly benefit the readers --- and that in some way relates to genealogy or genealogical research. You will never find a link to gambling, pornography, etc.

more to come ...

I want to know what you think! Your valuable feedback helps me design more useful pages. You can reach me via Email: or use theFeedback page or theGive Feedback button.

Please let me know if there is a favorite link of yours that is not included in my site and I will add it toJewish Web Index